Programmatic creation of task sequences from manifests

Method, apparatuses, and systems are described for receiving, by a computer, data representing a first manifest and a second manifest, the first manifest identifying at least some of a plurality of software components and the second manifest identifying at least some of the plurality of software components; determining a first one of the software components that is identified by the second manifest and not identified by the first manifest; generating, by the computer, a task sequence comprising instructions for installing the first one of the software components to a software stack; and recording, by the computer, data representing the task sequence to a computer-readable medium.